Don’t waste your teleworking dollars

SmartMoney recently published “10 things not to buy in 2010″ listing “products and services that soon will go the way of the dodo.” While the average consumer may be concerned with looming obsolescence, the average teleworker has a slightly different agenda. As a result, comments made about some of the items on the list may be more or less true for you.

For example, the article suggests we save money by dropping home telephone service. More and more homes have only cell phones. But as a teleworker, you may want to consider keeping that old land line hooked up as a back up just in case your high-speed access goes out.

On the other hand, the article also suggests not wasting money on external hard drives. “Online backup services,” they argue, “allow users to back up data over the Internet.” Saving money, and the flexibility accessing the data, may make this an especially appealing option for those teleworkers who never really know where they will be working from on any given day.

Finally, the article suggests avoiding “Energy-inefficient homes and appliances.” This is especially true for workers who don’t leave the house, and the associated heating and cooling bills.